Brake gearing for railway cars



NOV. 12, 1929. c PR|EBE 1,735,055

BRAKE GEARING FOR RAIILWAY CARS Filed May '7, 1926 Patented Nov. 12, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HERMAN C. PRIEBE, OF BLUE ISLAND, ILLINOIS,v ASSIGNOR TO CHICAGO RAILWAY- EQUIPMENT COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF IILINOIS BRAKE GEABING FOR RAILWAY Application filed May 7, 1926. Serial. No. 107,328.

My invention relates to brake gears for railway cars of the class employing brake shoe, carrying brake beams arranged in pairs, a live lever for operatin one of the brake beams of a pair, a dead f the other beam, and a connecting rod joining the lower ends of the brake levers.

Hitherto, on release of the brakes, the connectingv rod would drop into too close proximity to the road bed and, in the event of the breakage of its connection with a brake lever, would drop, at its disconnected end upon the road, bed with the result that, in either case, the connecting rod was apt to strike obstructions upon the road bed in a manner frequently to cause damage to the truck and mechanism thereon.

To obviate these defects, I provide means upon the truck, in addition to the brake levers, for engaging and supporting the connecting rod in the event of its disconnection and to limit the extent to which it may be lowered upon the release of the brakes. This means is referably a suspending means which corrects both of the aforesaid faults, being desirably inclusive of two hangers that are carried by the trucks independently of the brake levers preferably by being connected with the lever operated, brake mechanism. Either hanger will serve to support the connecting rod in the event of its disconnection and both hangers effectively cooperate to prevent the connecting rod from descending at any point too close to the road bed upon release of the brakes. I

I will explain my invention more fully by reference to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of a portion of one form of truck showing the preferred embodiment of the invention employed in connection therewith; Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line, 22 of Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 is a perspective view illust'ratingmy invention as'it is preferably embodied.

The truck is equipped with side frames of ever for operating any suitable construction, one of these side frames being illustrated at 1. Each side frame is. equipped with journal boxes, as indicated at 2,,whi'ch. house bearings that receive the ends of the axles 3 for the car wheels 4. The spring plank 5 is: carried upon the lower portions of the side frames and carries the springs which support the truck bolster 6 This bolster is provided with the female member 7 ofthe center bearing which receives' the male center bearing member 8 that is'provided upon the'bottom ofthe body bolster 9. A king in 10 depends from. the center bearing mem er 8 and passes through the center bearing member 7 and the portion of. the truck bolster belowthis latter member; shown upon the body bolster.

The brake gear illustrated is inclusive; of

two cambered brake beams. 12 and 13 located between the axles and which constitute the compression members of trusses, tworods 145 and; 15, respectively connected with the ends of said beams and constituting truss tension members, and two struts 16 and 17 respecti'velyinterposedbetweenthe compression and tension'members of the trusses. A brake head 18issecuredupon e-achend of each of the brake beams. Brake hangers in the form of links 19 dependfrom' the upper portions of'the side frames and carry the brake beams and the trusses of which these beams are parts, said hangers being suitably received at their lower ends, in notches provided in the brake heads. Brakes in the form of shoes 20 are carried upon. the brake heads in a position to be applied to the carwheels when the trussed brake beams are moved. toward the wheels. truck' bolster and spring plank arebetween the beams. j

The brake actuating and. releasing rod 21 is connected with the upper end of'the live brake lever 22" which is pivotally connected between its ends at 23 with the strut 16 through which this lever desirably passes.

A portion 11 of the, car body is The The lower end of this lever is pivotally connected, at a selected place, with one end of the connecting rod at, as indicated at 25. The other end of this connecting rod is similarly connected with the lower end of the dead brake lever 26 as indicated at 27. The lever 26 is pivotally connected. between its ends, with the strut 17, as indicated at 28. The upper end of the dead lever 26 is connected at a selected place with the dead lever guide or stop 29, indicated at 30, this guide or stop being pivotally connected,at its in- .er end, with the bracket 31 which is carried by the truck bolster. The brake beam 12 is directly controlled by the live lever 22 and strut 16 which indirectly control the movement of the brake beam 13 through the intermediation of the connecting rod 24:, the dead lever 26 and strut 17. In release, the connecting rod 24 was hitherto free to drop almost to the level of the track rails in a position to encounter harmful obstruction upon the track. The connecting rod is apt to be broken where assembled with the brake levers, an occurrence hitherto permitting the dropping in the event of its disconnection by providing a suspension therefor that is supplied in addition to the brake levers, this suspension being carried by the truck inde pendently of the levers whereby the extent to which the connecting rod may be lowered, with reference to the truck. is limited. The means for thus suspending the connecting rod desirably resides in two hangers 32 and 33 which are connected, at their upper ends, with struts 16 and 17 respectively and preferably through the intermediation of the corresponding brake beams, as illustrated most clearly in Fig. 3. Each hanger is in the form of a loop whose bight portion is supported by the corresponding brake beam and whose lower ends are separated but which lower ends receive the corresponding connecting rod which bridges these lower ends so as to prevent the loop from rising clear of the brake beam, the connecting rod thus normally iaintaining the permanent assembly of the loop and beam. Each loop is desirably formed of an endless band of iron folded upon itself to provide two bight portions that are supported upon the beam and two lower endportions having bights which receive the connecting rod. The bight portions which are supported upon the beam are desirably spaced apart longitudinally of the beam and the bight portions that receive the connecting rod are spaced apart longitudinally of the rod. As the rod and brake beam are in angular relation, the rod prevents the lower bight portions from rising clear of the beam; ldhen the rod is removed, the loop structure may be removed by spreading the lower bight portions apart in case the space between them is not sutiicient to permit them to be passed upwardly clear of the beam. The loop is thus readily removable from the beam when the connecting rod is removed. These hangers are suiiiciently long to permit the connecting rod to reach its lowermost position throughout its maximum range of upright movement and sufiiciently short to prevent the connecting rod from descending to undesirable proximity to the road bed. Either hanger alone serves to prevent the rod from being unduly lowered at either end that becomes disconnected and both hangers, being near theends of the connecting rods, serve to prevent this rod from being lowered to undue proximity to the road bed in the releasing operation of the brakes.

' While I prefer to assemble the hangers directly with the brake beams with the spring plank and truck bolster therebetween, the invention is not to be thus limited. Nor is the invention to be limited to the employment of hangers for limiting the descent of the connecting rod upon release of the brakes.

It will be observed that when the brakes are released the hangers 32 and 33 carry the connecting rod 24 and that this connecting rod is thereby thencaused to support the brake levers at the lower ends of these levers. The levers, in turn, support the beams at their pivots 23 and 28 whereby the tension members 14 and 15 are prevented from dipping, said hangers being between said pivots and on opposite sides of the truck bolster.

Changes may be made without departing from the invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim I 1. suspending means for the connecting rod that unites the lower ends of live and dead brake levers comprising a flat bar and including a downwardly-facing upper loop and an integrally formed upwardly-facing lower loop below said downwardly facing loop, said bar being twisted intermediate said loops whereby said upper loop presents a broad surface to engage a supporting brake beam element and said lower loop presents a broad surface to en gage the connecting rod extending transversely of said brake beam element.

2. suspending means for the connecting rod that unites the lower ends of live and dead brake levers comprising a flat bar folded upon itself to form two upper bight formations for fitting over a supporting brake beam element and also to form two lower bight formations for supporting the connecting rod, said bar being twisted between each bight to provide broad flat loops opening in transverse directions.

3. A car brakeconnecting rod guard comprising a flat bar forming an inverted U- shaped loop with the width of the bar at the upper nd of the loop disposed horizontally my name.

HERMAN C. PRIEBE. 

